An Indian teenager stated that he has the ability to withstand 11,000 volts passing through his body, pointing out that he discovered his bizarre talent by accident when he was repairing his mother’s heater.
Human electricity insulator Deepak Jangra can resist the same amount of voltage required to power 500 houses and even sit with his hands inside a tub of water along with naked live wires.
“I have a gift from God. I feel very privileged. I have the power to do things no one else can and I don’t intend on wasting it,” the 16-year-old claimed.
He also noted that he used to be scared of electricity, adding that he is now confident.
“I have tested myself over and over again and I will never get hurt. I can touch a live wire with my tongue and I know nothing will happen to me.”
Deepak first discovered that he can resist such high levels of electricity three years ago when he was fixing his mother’s portable heater.
“My mother kept complaining that our heater was broken so I thought I’d take a look and try and fix it myself because we couldn’t afford to take it anywhere and pay someone to fix it.”
“I accidentally touched the live wire with my screwdriver but nothing happened - I didn’t get a shock. But at the time I assumed we must have had a power failure in our village,” he said.
Two weeks later, Deepak got a movie stuck inside his DVD player and decided to take the machine apart to retrieve the disc.
“I hit the live wires again but again nothing happened,” he said, emphasizing that he touched the wires again and again, and then went outside to check the power supply was OK.
"That was the day I realized there was something unusual about me."
Since that moment, Deepak has been experimenting with various devices of different voltages.
He has tried light bulbs, TV wires, an electric woodcutter and an electrical water pump but each time, he would simply stop the devices working but not suffer any injuries.
If anyone else were to attempt the same, it is highly likely they would be killed instantly.
“I could cope with 110 volts, 240 volts, 440 volts and my curiosity kept on growing. I wanted to know more and more. How much I could actually cope with?”
To find out, Deepak decided to test his limits by climbing an electric pole in a nearby field to touch the 11,000 voltage high-tension wire that powers his village.
A crowd gathered beneath him and started screaming in fear as they thought he was trying to commit suicide.
“I was hanging from the pole touching the wires and I think people thought I was crazy.”
“Once people saw me touch the wires and walk away unscathed, they started cheering. I surprised everyone.”
Deepak - who is now known as Wonder Boy in his remote village near Sonipat, in Haryana, northern India - is frequently asked by local families to repair equipment or electric line faults.
But he refuses to charge for his services, as he does not believe in profiting financially from his gift and added: “I’m out most days doing some kind of repair work now.”